In recent years, an automated manual transmission (hereafter, abbreviated as “automated MT”) has been developed in an automobile technical field. This is a system used for automating operation of a clutch configured with a friction mechanism and operation of a synchromesh as a gear change mechanism in a gear type transmission which originally used to be used as a manual transmission. In the automated MT, when shifting is started, a clutch for transferring/interrupting torque of an engine as a driving force source is disengaged and a synchromesh is switched, and then the clutch is engaged again.
In JP-A-2000-234654 and JP-A-2001-295898, twin-clutch automated MTs are disclosed; the twin-clutch automated MT has two clutches for transferring input torque to a transmission and drive torque is alternately transferred by the two clutches. In the twin-clutch automated MT, when shifting is started, a first clutch that has been transferring torque before the shifting, is gradually disengaged, and a second clutch for the next gear position is gradually engaged; and drive torque is changed from the one equivalent to the current gear ratio to the one equivalent to the next gear ratio. As a result, interruption of the drive torque is avoided and smooth shifting can be achieved.
With respect to the above-mentioned twin-clutch automated MT, a so-called pre-shift control is disclosed in JP-A-10-318361 and JP-A-2003-269592. The pre-shift control is carried out to shorten a time required for shifting to the next gear position. That is, the pre-shift control is done such that, when a gear position is in some position, a next gear position is predicted; a transmission input shaft whose clutch has not been used for a current gear position is selectively coupled to a transmission output shaft by a synchromesh and they are thereby allowed to stand by in the next gear position.
The pre-shift control where the gear position is pre-shifted to the next position makes it possible to enhance a response for gear shifting when the prediction comes true. However, provided that a driver's request shift operation is done by the driver during the pre-shift control for the next shifting, an operation of the synchromesh according to the driver's request shift must be started after the pre-shift control is achieved. And then, when the operation of the synchromesh is completed, the clutch to clutch shift in engagement is started. As a result, the response is degraded.
The invention is to provide a control apparatus for twin-clutch automatic transmissions possible to advance start timing of pre-shift control and enhance the response when a shifting request continuously occurs.